Edmonton’s Animal Blood Clinic says they are in desperate need of more four-legged donors.
“We weren’t able to fill our clinics this March,” clinic co-ordinator Shauna Lesick said.
Lesick said she aims to have about 25 dogs donate each month.
“That may not sound like a lot but we can’t get that right now.”
She explained that each donation saved two lives and did not have any serious effects on the donor animal.
“They are happy to run around and have a great time afterwards.”
Each extraction takes about five minutes. The product is then sent on to the bank in Winnipeg, which supplies all of Canada.
“We do testing on them so that they don’t pass on any blood parasites or other blood-borne diseases,” Lesick explained.
Eleven-year-old Bouvier, Anna, has been a regular donor and will be giving blood for the 25th time next week.
Her owner, Hans Granholm, said he found out about the bank through his veterinarian and thinks that more pet owners needed to become aware of the benefits.
“I just never gave it much thought.
“That’s the kind of reaction I get from friends and people that we meet on the dog walks,” he explained. “They never really gave it much thought.”
Lesick said that the ideal dog was between one and six years old, weighing over 50 lbs.
With files from Amanda Anderson
